Athea's POV

It's been almost a month since I started traveling with Granny and my feet are almost healed. I had also gained weight over the last month. The clothes Katlyn gave me fit me a little better now. Granny told me that we were going to go to the King's Market, this country's yearly gathering of traders and businessmen to buy and sell their goods. Granny told me that it was the best way for a trader to sell their goods and get new ones to sell during the coming fall.

We were resting Granny's horse by a small stream one afternoon. Granny was napping in the carriage while I was walking around in the woods. I walked slowly, taking in the beauty of the trees and how the light filtered through them. Birds sang from the high branches as the gentle breeze blew through the leaves. I saw a few tree sprites dancing on the wind as I walked. They waved at me before flying away. I couldn't help but smile. I felt like I was back in the Eastern Woods; my birth place.

Suddenly, I heard a sharp screech pierce through the air. I spun around, looking for the source. It sounded like a fire lizard in pain. I heard it again and I ran towards it. I came to a small sandy ridge when I came out of the woods. I looked around and saw a small brown fire lizard lying on the ground, her sides bleeding heavily onto the sand. I ran to her and knelt on the ground beside her, gently stroking her head in a soothing manner. She moaned weakly and looked at me, her silver eyes pleading.

Please, she begged, save my eggs.

Where are you eggs, little one? I asked her.

She pointed with her nose toward a cleft on the ridge. It was a ways up, but I wasn't afraid of heights. I climbed up to the cleft and I had to stifle a gasp of horror. Inside the nest were shattered eggs. The baby fire lizards were dead, still covered in their eggs' membrane. It looked like the work of a weasel or a ferret. I looked through the eggs, trying to find one that survived. Then I found one. It was underneath one of its dead siblings. The egg shell was unharmed and I could feel the little fire lizard inside. I placed it in my belt pouch and scooped sand over the remainder of the nest making sure that all of the dead hatchlings were buried, whispering an Ancient Elvish prayer as I did so.

I climbed back down and went over to the mother, kneeling next to her. She looked over to me weakly.

Are my eggs safe? She asked me.

I could feel her life slipping away. She wasn't going to live much longer.

They're safe, I told her, I'll make sure that they stay that way.

I didn't like lying to her, but I felt her happiness and relief as she died. At least I could keep that promise with the one egg that survived. I buried the little brown fire lizard and placed a stone over the grave so scavengers wouldn't dig her up. I took the fire lizard egg out of my belt pouch and held it close to my chest to keep it warm. I hurried back to where Granny was.

Granny was hitching her horse back to the wagon when I walked up. She looked back at me and smiled.

"Did you have a nice walk, Athea?" she asked me.

I nodded and grabbed a small basket from the wagon and a few cloth napkins and made a nest for the egg in my hands. Granny came over and looked at what I was doing.

"What do you have there, Athea?" she asked me, curiosity filling her voice.

I wrote out the Elvish word for "fire lizard" in the dirt. That's how I communicate to Granny since I don't talk. I found that she knew the same dialect of Elvish that I knew when she caught me singing one day. Alright, I do talk a little, but only in Elvish and unfortunately, Granny only spoke a little Elvish. She could read and write in the most common dialect but she didn't understand it when it was spoken. When Granny read the word I just wrote, her eyes widened slightly.

"A fire lizard egg? You stole it, Athea?"

I shook my head and wrote out "mother, dead, nest, gone"

Granny looked at the egg with pity, "Poor thing. Is that why you took it? To protect it?"

I nodded. Granny hugged me, "You can keep it, my dear. Take good care of it, alright?"

I smiled and lined the nest with some wool that Granny handed me. I placed the egg in the nest and covered it with some more of the wool. I smiled at my work and picked up the basket. I held it close to my chest as I climbed up next to Granny in the driver's seat. Granny just laughed at my smiling face and clucked at her horse, giving the reins a flick.

"I've never seen you smile so much, Athea. It makes me happy to see you smile."

I just leaned on her shoulder. Granny made me feel safe and welcome.

***

It's been a week since I found the fire lizardegg. Every now and then, I can hear the hatchling tap the shell, as if it wastesting the strength of its egg. I was always checking on it, making sure itwas warm enough and I rotated it every few hours. I was happy that Granny letme keep the egg. I wanted to keep the promise I made to its mother and keep itsafe.

One evening, I heard scratching coming from the inside of the egg. I uncovered the egg from inside the basket and sure enough, there were cracks appearing in the shell. Granny heard my small laugh of joy and came over to where I was. When she saw the cracks, she smiled at me.

"It's hatching," she said happily, "It's going to be hungry when it gets out. I'll get some meat strips from the wagon."

Granny rushed to the wagon and came back with a strip if dried meat in hand. We watched in awe as the cracks got bigger and wider and eventually, a small fire lizard crawled out of the shell. Its scales were a smoke stained gold in color and its eyes were the color of tree leaves. It opened its mouth and let out a squeaky chirp.

Food! Her voice said in my head, Gimme food!

I laughed and bit off a piece of the dried meat and chewed it until it was soft. I gave the little fire lizard the chewed up meat and she gulped it down, purring happily as she did so. When the food was gone, she squeaked for more. I fed her until her stomach swelled with food. When she burped, she crawled out of the basket and into my lap and then climbed up my dress until she was resting on top of my chest.

Friend, she said to me as it fell asleep.

Granny laughed softly, "Well, it likes you. What are you going to name it, Athea?"

I thought for a moment and then wrote out the word "Kimi" in the dirt. Granny looked confused as she tried to read the word.

"Athea, that's Ancient Elvish. I can't read that word."

I cursed at myself. I forgot she didn't understand the language I grew up speaking. I wrote out the same word, but in her language.

"Kimi? What does it mean?"

I wrote out "gold" next to it. Then Granny understood.

"Oh! Kimi means gold in Ancient Elvish? I didn't know that. It's a wonderful name for the fire lizard."

I nodded and carefully stood up, making sure that little Kimi didn't fall as I walked over to my bed roll. I lay down and held Kimi close, making sure she was curled up under my chin. Granny covered me with a blanket and kissed my forehead.

"Sleep well, my dear. You have a new friend to be with you now. Something tells me that they won't let anything happen to you."

I smiled and closed my eyes, focusing on the warmth from my new friend's body and the calmness of her mind as I fell into a peaceful sleep.